Support For Welsh Independence Collapses to Three Percent, But UKIP Vote Doubles

25 Sep 2014

A new poll has shown support for Welsh independence has collapsed in the days following the Scottish referendum, and voter attitudes towards a number of other institutions including the Welsh Assembly and UKIP has also seen dramatic change.

Interviewing over 1,000 Welsh adults by telephone, the ICM poll for BBC Wales found only three percent now favour full independence, which is significantly lower than the historic average of ten percent. There are now four times more people in Wales who support the abolition of the devolved Welsh assembly than support breaking away from the United Kingdom.

In terms of constitutional changes to the UK, support for greater powers being given to the nations is the clear winner, with support for further devolution in Wales is the clear winner reaching a new high of 49 percent.

The leader of Plaid Cymru, Wales’s nationalist party, reacted with contempt at the news, blaming Westminster for the slump in support for her party’s aims. Speaking to the BBC, she said: “I’m not surprised to see such small numbers of people supporting an independent Wales, particularly in the context of the Better Together campaign and the British establishment parties putting out an unprecedented level of scaremongering in the light of the Scottish independence campaign”.

When measuring voting intentions for next years general election, the poll found all parties in Wales had lost support, except UKIP which has picked up seven points since March, putting it at fourteen percent. Although this could make UKIP the third party in Wales, ahead of Plaid Cymru and the Greens, analysis by the University of Cardiff indicates the vote is spread too thinly and wouldn’t result in a Westminster seat.